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Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

Behaviour/development

DD not talking at 2.2 years.

36 replies

booksandchoc · 28/03/2014 22:37

Dd is 2.2 and barely uses 10 or 15 words. She can say no and go perfectly fine, mum, dad, di for the dog and duh for her dummy. A few other sounds but mainly just communicates by pointing at what she wants. I encourage her to say what she is pointing at but then I give her what she wants, otherwise it would end in a major tantrum. I've got her an appointment with GP, but HV already told me they won't do anything about it because her understanding is fine. I'm not sure what to do really, except persevere with the encouragement and hope the GP doesn't laugh in my face.

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Mrswellyboot · 28/03/2014 22:43

Des your child go to play school op?

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booksandchoc · 28/03/2014 22:45

No, she's with me or DH most of the time.

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Mrswellyboot · 28/03/2014 22:55

It will probably the first thing a therapist will recommend.

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Mrswellyboot · 28/03/2014 22:55

The GP won laugh in your face, don't worry. But your little girl is only very young yet, so try not to be too concerned

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booksandchoc · 28/03/2014 22:59

Thanks Mrswelly, I did look into a nursery for her to be around kids a bit more but it was a bit more than we could afford. I could maybe look at it again and see if we could stretch to it, I do think it would be a big benefit, it is just finding the money to pay the costs.

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scaryg · 28/03/2014 23:04

Have you thought about Makaton/baby signing? My DD is non verbal at 27months, she also understands loads and has quite a good range of signs now. It gives her more independence and is very handy.

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2kidslotsofmess · 28/03/2014 23:06

please get her hearing checked op

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booksandchoc · 28/03/2014 23:07

I did think about that but I would rather encourage her to talk than give her another excuse not to talk. She already gets away with too much pointing, so I'm trying to discourage that.

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NoodieRoodie · 28/03/2014 23:07

DS is 2.4 and words are coming thick and fast now but a lot of them are only ones I can understand. He probably had about 10 words at 2 and I was a little concerned especially as a lot of the words he has aren't totally clear.

BUT comparing him to others of his age he doesn't seem particularly behind, there are one or two amazingly clear articulate speakers and some who have a couple of words and rely on the "grunt and point" method of communication.

DS's understanding has always been amazing so I just assumed that he'd get there in his own time with speaking.

I'm a SAHM but we are very social and are play groups or with other children at least 3 or 4 times a week so I don't think that nursery is necessarily the answer.

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Mrswellyboot · 28/03/2014 23:08

I know, it's hard to do it all. I know a speech therapist and he swears by play school for encouraging speech.

Definitely see you gp and push to see a therapist, even to put your mind at rest. Can you set up playdates.

Keep going with reading lots of stories, listening to rhymes, action songs. Lots and lots of speech input.

Hope all goes well

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booksandchoc · 28/03/2014 23:09

2kids, I'm hoping the GP will refer me for that, since the HV doesn't seem to care. I think her hearing is fine, she can understand loads and can get me things that I ask her too, but having read threads recently I've realised it's not just a simple case of hearing or not hearing.

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2kidslotsofmess · 28/03/2014 23:09

sorry New phone can't use it! posted too soon it may not be that but worth ruling out. don't worry too much my ds was very similar that age now fine

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booksandchoc · 28/03/2014 23:13

Thanks for the replies, we don't have much play groups or anything to take her to in my area, she does get play dates with my friends DC's, I persevere with reading to her but she hates it! I love reading so can't believe she doesn't like stories.

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joanofarchitrave · 28/03/2014 23:14

I'd agree about the hearing test.

A lot of areas have drop-in speech therapy sessions, worth checking out. Talking Point can be quite good, some useful advice IMO.

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booksandchoc · 28/03/2014 23:18

Is talking point just England or Scotland too? Can anyone link me to scottish groups?

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sandycloud · 28/03/2014 23:20

You can refer yourself to speech therapy. They may have some early communication group you can go to. Are you near a children's centre? They may have something. Signing helps to develop speech so encourage pointing and gesture. Also try the ican website. Ican.org.uk. You can speak to a speech therapist for advice.

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Clarabumps · 28/03/2014 23:26

There's a good book by Hanen called It Takes Two to Talk for some ideas for speech therapy ideas. I thoroughly recommend it. My son has asd and has just started talking but this was a good jumping off point. It wasn't that relevant for us as my son had other issues but for a regular straightforward speech delay it's great.
I'd bypass the HV if she's not responsive. Go straight to the doctor and make sure you get a referral. These things can take a while so you are best to get the ball rolling as soon as possible.
Are there any other issues you are worried about?

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DIddled · 28/03/2014 23:27

Good that you are looking into it- but don't worry too much! My son didn't say very much at all till he was much older than your little one. I did the hearing/speech therapy referral etc to death. He was Dx with a mild speech and language issue at age 5 which we received guidance about,not therapy as such (auditory memory issues).

Now 15 , articulate grammar school pupil with a smart mouth and far too bloody much to say for himself!!!

He went to nursery from age 2.

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Clarabumps · 28/03/2014 23:27

Too many ideas there ^^ Sorry I need sleep. Crap grammar.

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mummy1973 · 28/03/2014 23:33

I was that child. I am still a listener rather than a talker. Try not to worry. DC may just be consolidating

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booksandchoc · 28/03/2014 23:34

No other issues that I can think off Clara, except total stubbornness and no fear, most toddlers are like that tho? I'm not worrying too much as I know all kids are different, just when other kids I know around her age are talking in 3 or 4 word sentences (which I do know is advanced) makes me think wtf?

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cinnamongreyhound · 28/03/2014 23:35

In my area the gp's won't refer under 5's it's all done through hv so they may just send you back there. At her age it is quite early for speech therapy and certainly here they won't refer for speech therapy until a hearing test has been done. Try not to worry too much though, i have a mindee who had very few words at 2 and 7months and she all of a sudden talks all the time. A lot of her sounds are hard to understand and she has now been referred to speech therapy so we'll see what they say. My ds1 had speech therapy at 4 and was basically talking constantly but had a lot of substitutions of letter sounds, mostly he used 'd'. At his 2 year check I questioned it and they were not concerned, when he started playgroup I questioned it and they were not concerned but within 4 weeks of starting nursery within the school they suggested I got him checked. Gp sent me straight to hv who referred with no probs and he started salt within 4 months. It made a huge difference to him but equally I know others who have had very worried parents and have just made massive progress very quickly by themselves hence why I think they're a bit apprehensive of starting too young. Good luck with your gp!

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booksandchoc · 28/03/2014 23:36

Mummy my sister was the same, didn't talk until 3 then just started talking in sentences. I just want to get the ball rolling incase we do get further down the line and there is something amiss.

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booksandchoc · 28/03/2014 23:40

Thanks cinnamon, I know I probably won't get the speech therapy referral but I do want her hearing checked. HV told me they won't do anything until her 2 year check (at 27 months) but going by their track record she will be 2.6 by the time they bother.

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StupidFlanders · 28/03/2014 23:56

Hi op, my ds is the same but a bit older. He wasn't officially classed as speech delayed until he hit 2 but I saw it coming. I'm lucky that I know someone I consider an expert and work in this area so I could move things along faster.

Hearing test is the first step to rule it out. My ds had ear infections when he was younger so had very mild low frequency loss which is common after ear infections and hangs around for ages.

My ds sees a speech therapist but they do activities that a parent can do.

Try getting her to say things that result in an action eg have her in a bike or swing etc and keep saying ready set go, until you pause and wait for her to say go.

Also practice focussing on things with her and always communicate with eye contact down at her height.

I know how frustrating it is for both of you but unless you suspect a serious disability the speech will come!